CHENNAI: Nearly three months after Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital started round the clock angioplasty and stenting procedures for patients coming with heart attacks, Government Stanley Medical College Hospital here has also announced that it will keep its cardiac catheterisation lab open for 24 hours.

On Friday, when fisheries minister D Jayakumar dedicated a new bi-plane digital subtraction angiogram cath lab – a hybrid facility that can deal with blood vessels in brain, heart and limbs – the hospital announced that it would soon post three doctors -- an assistant professor and two postgraduate doctors – along with two nurses and two technicians on duty every night.

Patients coming to hospital after 2pm were given medicines to clear the blood clots and made to wait for the angiogram until 7am the next day when the cath lab opens. Although the wait did not kill people, the outcome could be better with immediate angioplasty and stenting, doctors say.

Compared to hospitals such as Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital , the number of cases done in Stanley cath lab were lesser in the last six months. “We will soon be having a robust lab that will be able to do emergency surgeries and improved outcomes,” said hospital dean Dr S Ponnambala Namasivayam.

Health minister C Vijaya Baskar said the state would soon equip medical college hospitals in districts such as Villupuram, Dharmapuri, Thanjavur, Theni and Pudukkottai with state-of-the art centres that will function as tertiary care centres. Now, the state has nearly 10 cath labs and four bi-plane cath labs, where treatment is offered free to patients under the state health insurance scheme.

With immense pride “India Live” celebrated its 10th national conference in Mumbai from 28th February to 3rd March 2019. The conference turned out to be a gold mine of information, with emphasis on academics, education and exchange of knowledge with leaders in interventional cardiology from both India and abroad.